PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania has announced its men's basketball schedule for the 2019-20 season. In the fifth season under John R. Rockwell Head Coach of Men's Basketball Steve Donahue, the Quakers will play a 27-game schedule that includes 11 contests at The Palestra.
 
Season tickets for the 2019-20 men's basketball home season are currently on sale. Existing season ticket holders should click here for renewal information, while fans interested in becoming season ticket holders can click here. Please note, new season tickets will be assigned after the renewal deadline (Friday, Sept. 13).
 
"Every year, the goal in putting together our schedule is to give our student-athletes a first-class experience while also putting them in the position to have success," said Donahue, the Ivy League and ECAC Coach of the Year in 2017-18. "I am excited about the opportunities we will present our players with early-season road games at Alabama, Rice and Providence. The Wooden Legacy affords us another opportunity to play top-level talent, but it's an event in which I think we can succeed. We are always cognizant of our regional rivalries, especially the Big 5 games. And, of course, anyone who follows Ivy League basketball knows that the league just gets better every year. This schedule is challenging, but I believe we have a team that can navigate it with success."
 
A Few Notes…
*Penn's season will open on Tuesday, Nov. 5 when the Quakers make their first trip to Tuscaloosa to face Alabama from the Southeastern Conference (SEC). By calendar date, it will be earliest regular-season game in program history.
 
*Penn's November 9 game in Houston against Rice will mark a meeting against former Quakers assistant coach Scott Pera, who enters his second year as head coach of the Owls. He was an assistant coach for two years and left after the 2013-14 season, so he did not coach any of the current Penn players.
 
*When Penn plays at Lafayette (Nov. 19), Coach Donahue will match up against Fran O'Hanlon, with whom he shared bench space when they were assistants at Penn.
 
*For the third-straight year, Penn will participate in an eight-team tournament and is guaranteed three games at the event. The Wooden Legacy will take place Thanksgiving Weekend at Anaheim (Calif.) Arena. The Quakers cannot count the Wooden Legacy as an exempt event, so they will play 27 regular-season games as opposed to the 30 they played the last two years.
 
*For the second straight year, and just the second time in history, the Penn-Princeton series will be done before the Quakers play another Ivy League game. The Quakers will host the Tigers at The Palestra on Saturday, Jan. 4; six days later, Penn makes the short trip to Jadwin. The rest of the Ivy schedule won't begin until January 31.
 
*In addition to the 27-game regular season, Penn hopes to advance to the Ivy League Men's Basketball Tournament which will take place at Harvard's Lavietes Pavilion on March 14-15. The Quakers have played in each of the first three Ivy Tourneys, winning in 2018 and losing in the semifinals last year and in 2017. The top four regular-season finishers will advance to the event, with semifinals taking place on Saturday and the championship game on Sunday. While the team that finishes the regular season with the best conference record will be declared the official Ivy League champion, the winner of the Ivy League Tournament will receive the Ancient Eight's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
 
The Non-Conference Road Schedule…
 AT ALABAMA (Tuesday, Nov. 5): This will be the third meeting between the Quakers and the Crimson Tide, but the first in Tuscaloosa … In fact, the first two meetings were both neutral-site affairs, at the 1986 BMA Classic in Kansas City and the 1995 NCAA Tournament in Baltimore … Bama won both of those meetings, the NCAA win coming 91-85 in overtime … Penn is 6-17 all-time against current SEC programs and hasn't faced an SEC team since the 2014-15 season (Vanderbilt) … 2018-19: 18-16 overall, 8-10 SEC, 61 NET.
 
AT RICE (Saturday, Nov. 9): Penn rolled to a 92-76 win over Rice last year at The Palestra … Prior to that, the Quakers and Owls played a two-game series in 1996-97 and 1997-98, the home team winning each time … Penn's win was a 78-73 decision on November 22, 1997 at The Palestra … Penn is 6-3 all-time against current Conference USA programs … 2018-19: 13-19 overall, 8-10 C-USA, 217 NET.
 
AT LAFAYETTE (Tuesday, Nov. 19): One of Penn's most consistent non-conference matchups, the Quakers and the Leopards have met every year but two since the 1985-86 season … Penn leads the series, 43-9, and has won the last three matchups including a 91-61 romp last year at The Palestra … The Red and Blue won their last trip to Easton, 73-68 two years ago, but are just 2-4 in their last six trips there … The game pits Coach Donahue against Fran O'Hanlon; the two were assistant coaches together at Penn during the 1990s … 2018-19: 10-20 overall, 7-11 Patriot League, 282 NET.
 
AT PROVIDENCE (Saturday, Nov. 23): The Quakers and Friars have met nine times previously, but just twice this century … Providence leads the series, 6-3, with four straight wins … Penn's last win in the series came back in 1975 … Penn's last five games with the Friars have all taken place in Providence, as this one will … Penn and Providence met in the NCAA Tournament three straight years from 1972-74 … 2018-19: 18-16 overall, 7-11 Big East, 77 NET.
 
AT VILLANOVA (Wednesday, Dec. 4): The Wildcats lead the overall series, 47-19 … Penn snapped a 15-game losing streak in the series last year with a 78-75 win at The Palestra … That win also snapped Villanova's 25-game win streak against Big 5 opponents … Penn has played on Villanova's campus 11 times and has lost all of those meetings … 2018-19: 26-10 overall, 13-5 Big East, 28 NET.
 
AT HOWARD (Monday, Dec. 30): The Quakers and the Bison are 1-1 in their two-game series … Penn's win came two seasons ago in D.C., an 81-68 decision … Howard's win came during the 2007-08 season at The Palestra, 80-65 … Penn is 4-2 all-time against MEAC programs, with a 3-1 mark against Delaware State … 2018-19: 17-17 overall, 10-6 MEAC, 304 NET.
 
The Princeton Rivalry…
Saturday, Jan. 4 at The Palestra; Saturday, Jan. 11 at Princeton
*These will be the 242nd and 243rd meetings between the Ivy League's flagship programs; Penn has not played any other opponent more than Princeton. The Tigers swept last year's season series with a 68-65 overtime decision at Jadwin Gym and then a 62-53 win one week later at The Palestra. Penn swept the season series two years ago.
 
The Ivy League Road Weekends…
February 7/8 – at Columbia, at Cornell
*Penn has split this trip six times in the last seven years, the exception being a sweep two years ago … Last year's loss came at Cornell on Friday night (80-71); the Quakers rebounded with a 72-70 win in NYC a night later… The previous five times Penn split, the win came in Ithaca against the Big Red … This will mark Coach Donahue's fifth trip to Ithaca since coaching there from 2000-01 to 2009-10.
 
February 21/22 – at Dartmouth, at Harvard
*Penn has split this trip the last two years after being swept on it for four straight years from 2013-14 to 2016-17 … Last year the Quakers lost the Friday night game at Harvard (59-53) but rebounded with a 65-51 victory at Dartmouth on Saturday … Penn's last sweep of this trip came in 2011-12.
 
February 28/29 – at Yale, at Brown
*Penn has split this trip each of the last two years, the win coming against the Bears in Providence both times … Last year the Quakers defeated Brown on Friday, 92-82, but fell the next night in New Haven to Yale, 78-65 … Penn has swept this trip 27 times overall, but just once over the last eight years (including getting swept three straight years from 2013-14 to 2015-16).